Joseph Schwartz, nursing home owner pardoned by Trump, owes patient families millions

President Donald Trump pardoned nursing home operator Joseph Schwartz after he served just three months of a three-year federal prison sentence for a $39 million payroll tax fraud scheme.

Schwartz pleaded guilty to withholding tens of millions in taxes from employees’ paychecks and failing to remit them to the IRS. He also paid himself $5 million as a ghost employee while his Skyline Healthcare chain collapsed across multiple states. Facilities suffered chronic understaffing, unpaid bills for food and medical supplies, and outright neglect that contributed to resident deaths.

Families of patients have won multimillion-dollar wrongful death judgments that remain uncollected. Doris Coulson’s family received nearly $19 million after she choked to death on scrambled eggs at an Arkansas facility despite medical orders prohibiting anything by mouth. Zelma Grissom’s family was awarded $15.7 million after she died from sepsis caused by severe infected bedsores that developed because she was not turned regularly.

Schwartz is one of several convicted nursing home operators granted clemency by Trump. In his first term he commuted the sentences of Philip Esformes, convicted in a $1.3 billion Medicare and Medicaid fraud case, and Judith Negron, convicted in a $200 million Medicare fraud scheme.

Schwartz spent more than $1 million on lobbyists to secure the pardon. The White House claimed he relied on a third-party for tax filings and paid restitution, statements contradicted by court records and his own guilty plea. He still owes the IRS tens of millions, an amount now far less likely to be recovered.

Families in at least three states have been unable to seize assets because Schwartz divested property in those jurisdictions and moved funds through more than 200 bank accounts.